Print via network

ABSTRACT

A system is used where a print portal  100  that is functions at least as an intermediary server and a print station are connected on a network. The print portal  100  receives a job from a job resource  10  via the network and manages it for the respective executive authority person. When the executive authority person uses an instruction client  40  to instruct the intermediary server to output the job, the intermediary server authenticates the executive authority person by way of biometric authentication or the like, and then transfers the job to the print station  30 . This enables an improper printing or mistaken printing to be avoided since the printing can be performed in response to the instruction of the person who has the true executive authority of the job.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a technique for outputting a print job via anetwork.

2. Description of the Related Art

In the prior art, a protocol referred to as IPP (Internet PrintingProtocol) is known as a technique for printing by use of any client andany printer connected to the Internet. Since this technique uses a URI(Uniform Resource Indicator) to designate a printer as an outputdestination, the output destination is limited to printers whose URI areknown.

The applicant proposed a technique for printing by use of any client andany printer via the Internet regardless of whether or not the URI isknown (e.g. a technique disclosed in JP2001-236183A). This techniqueuses a print intermediary server connected to the Internet to mediatethe print job and thereby prints by use of any client and any printer.The clients may include a variety of Internet-enabled devices, includinga cellular phone.

The above-mentioned prior art, however, has two practical problemsdescribed bellow. The first problem relates to receiving the printedmaterial. In outputting via the Internet, a plurality of users share theprinter. Since some printed material have high confidentiality, it isrequired in practice to ensure that the printed material is deliveredonly to the true receiver even under such situation or to improve thesecurity.

The second problem relates to simplicity of output during printing. Inoutputting via the Internet, as a result of the fact that the outputdestination can be selected flexibly, the information to be input by theuser tends to be increased compared to the case of outputting to theso-called locally connected printer. Furthermore, it tends to requestinput of complicated password and the like in order to improve thesecurity as described in the first problem, and therefore the outputamount tends to be further increased. Such complicated output diminishesthe convenience of print system and cannot be overlooked, especiallyduring printing by use of a portable terminal such as cellular phone.

Each of the above problems is not limited to the Internet but is commonto printing via a network. The objective of the invention is to avoidprinting improperly or mistakenly in printing via a network.Furthermore, another objective is to simplify operations duringprinting.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to solve at least part of the above problems, the inventionprovides a following configuration in a print intermediary serverprovided on a network. This print intermediary server has a function ofsending a print job received via the network to a printing apparatusconnected to the network. The network may include a network such as theInternet that can be accessed by the general public or a relativelylimited network such as LAN and personal computer communication.

This invention provides a job management unit, an instructionacquisition unit and a print job output unit for the print intermediaryserver as a first configuration. The job management unit manages theprint job in associated with an output authority person who hasauthority to output the print job. The output authority person may beidentical to or different from an issuer of the print job. In order tomaintain the association with the output authority person, informationspecific to the output authority person such as name and user ID can beused. The instruction acquisition unit acquires from one of clientsconnected to the network an output instruction of print job andauthentication information for authenticating a sender of the outputinstruction. The print job output unit, when the sender is authenticatedto have the authority to output based on the authentication information,sends the print job to the printing apparatus. This enables an improperprinting or mistaken printing to be avoided since the print job isperformed when the true output authority person instructs to output theprint job.

In the invention, the client can be an apparatus different from theprinting apparatus. The client may include a variety of devices such asa computer connectable to the network, a cellular phone and a PDA. This,for example, enables an output result to be obtained after a necessaryoperation is previously performed in the client, thereby enabling aconvenience to be enhanced.

When the client is different from the printing apparatus under acircumstance where a plurality of printing apparatuses are connected tothe network, a printing apparatus to which the print job should beoutput may be designated via the client so that the print intermediaryserver sends the print job based on the designation information.Alternatively, the printing apparatus may be previously designated whenthe print job is issued. This enables to cause the appropriate printingapparatus desired by the user to output.

In this invention, the client may be configured in an integral fashionwith the printing apparatus. This enables the user to instruct to outputwithout preparing another client. Furthermore, if the print intermediaryserver is to send the print job to the print apparatus whereby theoutput instruction is performed, the designation of output destinationmay be omitted. Of course, the designation of output destination is notnecessarily limited to the printing apparatus whereby the outputinstruction is performed, but another printing apparatus may beavailable.

In this invention, the authentication can be performed in a variety ofaspects.

For example, a first aspect may include determining whether or notparticular information previously associated with the output authorityis identical to input authentication information. For example, thisaspect is actualized by providing a database in which user IDs andassociated passwords are stored and determining whether or not acombination of user ID and password input as the authenticationinformation is identical to a combination of those of the outputauthority person.

A second aspect may include determining whether or not a user identifiedbased on the authentication information is identical to the outputauthority person. For example, this aspect is actualized by storing userIDs and associated passwords, identifying a user ID based on a passwordinput as the authentication information and determining whether or notthis user ID corresponds to the output authority person.

In this invention, it is preferable to switch a plurality ofauthentication methods in response to at least one of details of theprint job and an issuer of the print job. For example, it is possible toapply a simplified authentication method to a print job of relativelylow confidentiality or omit the authentication and to apply a highlyaccurate authentication method to a print job of high confidentiality.The print job of low confidentiality includes, for example, outputtingan advertisement or a Web site. The print job of high confidentialityincludes, for example, outputting securities, personal information, andan invoice. Since necessary cost and time usually differ depending onauthentication methods, switching the authentication methods enablesexcessive cost and time to be reduced while ensuring confidentialityrequired by each print job.

When there are a plurality of print jobs corresponding to the outputauthority person, the authentication in this invention may be performedat once for all the print jobs, or may be performed individually foreach print job to be output. For example, the latter aspect isactualized by inputting the authentication information after specifyingthe print job to be output. This enables a proper authentication to beperformed in response to details or the like of the specified print job.

The authentication in this invention is not limited to one using a userID and a password but may include, for example, a biometricauthentication. The biometric authentication uses bio-informationsubstantially specific to a user, for example; a fingerprint, a shape offace or palm, an iris of eye, handwriting, and a voiceprint. Thebiometric authentication can enable a high convenient and high accurateauthentication since the user need not memorize his password and thelike.

The biometric authentication is useful especially in the case where theclient and the printing apparatus are integrated. One advantage of thisinvention is to be capable of freely using a plurality of printingapparatuses beyond the range of conventional local connection or LANconnection. In such situation, if a device such as a cellular phone,which is different from the printing apparatus and substantiallyspecific to the user, is used as the client, the user can storenecessary authentication information, such as his user ID and password,in the client. On the other hand, if the client and the user ID areintegrated, the user cannot store his authentication information in eachprinting apparatus and therefore must input the authenticationinformation for every execution of print job. As described above, thebiometric authentication enables a high accurate authentication withoutobliging the user to memorize his password and the like, and thereforeis useful especially if the authentication information must be input forevery execution of print job.

In this invention, the authentication information to be input via theclient may be switched in response to a timing of the outputinstruction. This enables the accuracy of authentication to be furtherenhanced. This aspect can be also applied to the authentication using apassword and the like, and is useful especially if the biometricauthentication is used. For example, in the fingerprint authentication,the print intermediary server may specify a finger used for theauthentication such as “forefinger” and “middle finger” for the client.It is required for the user only to use the specified finger, andtherefore the high accuracy of authentication is achieved withoutexcessive burdens on the user.

In this invention, the authentication may be performed within the printintermediary server or may be performed by use of an externalauthentication agency provided outside the print intermediary server. Inthis case, the print intermediary server may send the information of theoutput authority person to the authentication agency, receive a resultof determination of its truth or not from the authentication agency, andthen output the print job. Alternatively, the print intermediary servermay receive credible user information from the authentication agency,determine by itself whether or not it corresponds to the outputauthority person, and then output the print job. The authenticationinformation may be directly sent from the client to the authenticationagency or may be sent via the print intermediary server to theauthentication agency.

This invention provides a job receiving unit and an output control unitfor the print intermediary server as a second configuration. The jobreceiving unit receives the print job in associated with the executiveauthority person of output of the print job and the issuer of the printjob. The output control unit switches the executive procedure and thenoutputs the print job based on at least one of details of the print joband an identity of the executive authority person and the issuer. Inthis case, the executive authority person includes a receiver of theprinted material, an owner of the printing apparatus and the like. Thesecond configuration, for example, enables a variety of operations to besimplified based on details or the like of the print job, therebyenabling a convenience in printing via the network to be enhanced.

In the second configuration, for example, when the executive authoritypersons and the issuers at least partly overlap, the print job may beallowed to be sent without inquiring about whether or not to send theprint job with the executive authority persons. For example, the printjob for a plurality of persons can have a plurality of executiveauthority persons. Alternatively, when an advertisement or the like isinserted into the originally specified content to generate the ultimateprint job, there can be a plurality of issuers of the print jobincluding an issuer of the advertisement. When the executive authoritypersons and the issuers partly overlap, including such cases where theboth include a plurality of persons, there can be no harm in determiningthat the print job is addressed by the issuer to himself. Therefore, insuch cases, the print job can be sent without the inquiry of whether ornot to send that is asked by use of a message such as “Is it OK toprint?” and thereby enabling the operations to be simplified.

In the above aspect, the inquiry of whether or not to send the print jobis not necessarily omitted when the executive authority persons and theissuers at least partly overlap. A further additional condition may beincluded to omit the inquiry. For example, the inquiry may be omittedwhen the executive authority person and the issuer are identical whilethe inquiry may be performed otherwise.

In the second configuration, for example, when a person other than theexecutive authority persons is included in the issuers, the executiveauthority person may be inquired about whether or not to send the printjob and then the print job may be allowed to be sent based on theresult. When the issuer other than the executive authority persons isincluded, inquiring about whether or not to send prior to the sendingenables the printing undesired by the executive authority person to beavoided.

In this aspect, the inquiry of whether or not to send is not necessarilyperformed when the person other than the executive authority persons isincluded in the issuers. A further additional condition may be includedto omit the inquiry. For example, under the above-mentioned condition,the inquiry may be omitted when the executive authority person isincluded in the issuers while the inquiry may be performed otherwise.

In the second configuration, the inquiry of whether or not to send maybe switched depending on details of the print job. For example, theinquiry may performed for print jobs that require relatively highreliability of delivery and print jobs of high confidentiality such ascertificates and securities while the inquiry of whether or not tooutput may be omitted for print jobs of relatively low confidentialitysuch as advertisements. Furthermore, when the fee is charged for theprinting, the inquiry of whether or not to output may be performed forthe print job for which a predetermined fee or above is charged such asthe print job including a color photo while the inquiry may be omittedwhen the fee is below the predetermined fee.

This invention is not limited to the aspects as the print intermediaryservers described above and can be configured in a variety of aspects.For example, this invention may be configured in aspects such as anintermediary method for using the print intermediary server to mediatethe print job, a computer program for enabling the print intermediaryserver to mediate and a computer-readable storage medium with suchprogram stored therein.

Such storage medium may include a variety of computer-readable mediasuch as flexible disk, CD-ROM, DVD, magneto-optics disc, IC card, ROMcartridge, punched card, print with barcodes or other codes printedthereon, internal storage device (memory such as RAM and ROM), andexternal storage device of the computer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic that shows a general configuration of a printsystem as a first embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a schematic that shows an internal structure of a print portal100;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an output process in the embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a schematic that shows an example of an interface windowwhereby an output instruction is performed;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a personal authentication process;

FIG. 6 is a schematic that shows a configuration of a print system in asecond embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an output process in the second embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart that shows a personal authentication process as athird embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a job transfer process as a fourth embodiment;and

FIG. 10 is a schematic that shows how to set up the need or not for theinquiry of output.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The details of the invention are described below with reference toembodiments of a system for printing via a network.

A. First Embodiment

-   -   A1. General Description of System    -   A2. Output Process    -   A3. Personal Authentication Process

B. Second Embodiment

-   -   B1. General Description of System    -   B2. Output Process

C. Third Embodiment

D. Fourth Embodiment

E. Modifications

A. First Embodiment

A1. General Description of System

FIG. 1 is a schematic that shows a general configuration of a printsystem as the first embodiment. This system includes clients eachconnected to a print intermediary system 100 via a network, and enablesprinting via the network through the following procedure. First, theprint intermediary system 100 (hereinafter referred to as print portal)receives and manages a print job sent from a print job source 10. Next,an instruction client 40 that consists of a cellular phone sends a printinstruction, and then the print portal 100 sends the print job to aprint station 30 according to the instruction. The print station 30receives this print job and then prints.

Although the Internet is used as the network in this embodiment, alimited network such as LAN or so-called personal computer communicationmay be used. Here shows an example case where the Internet is used forsake of convenience of explanation.

The print job source 10 consists of a general-purpose computer or thelike that has a function of accessing the network. Objects to be printedinclude, for example, images, documents and e-mails created by a varietyof application programs in the print job source 10 and Web pagesprovided by a variety of content providers 20 present on the Internet.When the Web page is printed, the content itself created in HTML or theURL (Uniform Resource Locator) at which the Web page is located may besent as the print job. In the latter case, for example, the print portal100 fetches the content based on the URL and then sends it to the printstation to perform printing.

The instruction client 40 is a device for performing an outputinstruction on the print job managed by the print portal 100. In thisembodiment, it is the cellular phone that has a function of accessingthe Internet but is not limited to this, and thus a terminal such as apersonal computer or PDA is available.

Functional blocks of the instruction client 40 are also shown in FIG. 1.In this embodiment, these functional blocks consist of softwareinstalled in the instruction client 40. Of course, these functionalblocks may be configured as hardware.

An authentication information sending unit 41 has a function of sendingauthentication information of a user (hereinafter referred to asinstructor) who instructs the output of the print job. In thisembodiment, a “voiceprint” is used as the authentication information.The voiceprint is one of authentication information used for biometricauthentication. For example, frequency components of voice can be usedas the authentication information to perform the authentication. Theauthentication information sending unit 41 acquires the frequencycomponents of the user's voice based on the voice input from thecellular phone and then sends them as the authentication information.The authentication information is not necessarily limited to thevoiceprint but may include a variety of information such as a password.

A job selection unit 42 specifies the print job to be printed out of theprint jobs managed by the print portal 100. A PS selection unit 43designates the print station to which the print job should be sent. Anoutput instruction unit 44 instructs to start sending the print job. Aninterface window necessary for these instructions is displayed on adisplay of the instruction client 40. It is preferably convenient thatthe window is provided by the print portal and browsed through a browserprovided for the instruction client 40.

The print station 30 consists of a computer connectable to the networkand a printer that is locally connected to the computer. It may consistof only a printer connectable to the network. The print station 30 isprovided with functional blocks for enabling this system to print. Thefunctional blocks are also shown in the figure. In this embodiment,these functional blocks are configured as software in the computer. Inthe case where the print station consists of only a printer, each of thefunctional blocks is configured in the printer. Of course, thesefunctional blocks may be configured as hardware.

A job receiving unit 31 has a function of receiving the print job fromthe print portal 100. A print control unit 32 has a function ofcontrolling the printer to print based on the received print job. Acompletion notification unit 33 notifies the print portal 100 thecompletion of printing. It preferably notifies in the case of abnormaltermination as well as normal completion of printing. A printermanagement unit 34 has a function of monitoring whether or not theprinter can print normally. If the printer cannot print normally, forexample, ink or toner of the printer is insufficient, the printer isoff, or papers are insufficient, it stops the execution of printing. Insuch a case, it may inform outside accordingly. The way of informing maybe appropriately selected out of the ways, for example, display on thecomputer display, audio output, and communication to the print portal100. Among the functional blocks provided for the print station, thecompletion notification unit 33 and the printer management unit 34 maybe omitted.

FIG. 2 is a schematic that shows an internal structure of the printportal 100. In the print portal 100, a variety of functional blocksshown in FIG. 2 are configured as software. These functional blocks maybe configured as hardware. Although this embodiment exemplifies the casewhere each of the functional blocks is configured in a single server forsake of convenience of explanation, they may be configured as adistributed processing system that uses a plurality of servers.

A control unit 132 controls the operation of each functional block ofthe print portal 100, the communication with the outside via theInternet INT and the other operations. The controls include theregistration and management of the user, the output instruction of theprint job, the search of the printer as output destination. Furthermore,the control unit 132 provides the interface window for the print portal100 interacting with the outside.

A registration management unit 131 performs the registration andmanagement of the user, the content provider 20 and the print station 30that use the print portal 100. The registration and management unit 131provides a function of generating an interface window for this process,a function of storing and changing data related to the registration in apredetermined database.

A queuing system 140 relays the operation of each functional block. Inthis embodiment, each functional block is constructed as so-calledobject-oriented software. Each functional block refers to a messageregistered in the queuing system 140 to detect the presence of the printjob to be processed, and then performs its own process. When theprocesses are completed, a message representing the completion of theprocesses is registered in the queuing system 140. In this way, eachfunctional block uses the queuing system 140 as a relay system toperform its own process, and thereby the print portal 100 achieves aseries of processes from receiving to outputting of the print job. Thequeues for achieving these processes include a print job registrationqueue, a content acquisition queue, a file conversion queue, a print jobsending queue and the like.

A job management unit 160 has mainly two functions. The first functionis of accessing the content provider to acquire the content that theuser specifies as a print object in the case where the content to beprinted is specified by the URL or the like. The job management unit 160refers to the content acquisition queue included in the queuing system140 and then performs the above-mentioned operation according to themessage accumulated therein.

The second function of the job management unit 160 is of managing theprint job until the output instruction is made. When the print portal100 receives the print job, it does not immediately send it to the printstation 30 but manages the print job until the output instruction ismade subsequently. When the job management unit 160 acquires from thequeuing system 140 the print job registration queue generated by thecontrol unit 132 when receiving the print job, it registers the printjob in a job database 162 according to the print job registration queue.FIG. 2 exemplifies a part of the job database 162. As shown in FIG. 2,the print jobs are managed on each user having the output authority inassociated with the respective user ID. Although the output destinationof the print job can be designated by the output instruction, it may bepresettable.

The job management unit 160 has a function of presenting a list of theprint jobs managed in the job database 162 as well as the function ofregistering the print job as described above. Furthermore, when theoutput instruction is made, it performs a pre-process for outputting theprint job corresponding to the instruction to the print station 30, andthus it has a function of generating the file conversion queue and thenregistering it in the queuing system 140.

An authentication unit 133 authenticates whether or not the user who hasmade the output instruction is a true executive authority person of theprint job. In this embodiment, the authentication is performed that usesa voiceprint of biometric authentication technique. In the print portal100, the voiceprints as a user database 134 are previously registered inassociated with the user IDs of the users. Although the user database134 also includes the other user-specific information, for example, useauthority of the print station 30, access authority to the contentprovider 20, accounting methods, they are omitted in FIG. 2. Theauthentication unit 133 refers to this user database 134 based on avoiceprint file input from the instruction client 40 to authenticatewhether or not the user has the true executive authority.

A file conversion unit 136 has a function of converting the content intoPDF format. Since the PDF is a general-purpose format, it isadvantageous to convert into such format and then mediate the print datain that the print data can be readily output to a variety of printers.Furthermore, there is an advantage of being able to relativelyfaithfully keep a layout of the printed material. In addition, there isan advantage of being able to cover a wide range of contents as printobjects since it is possible to convert from substantially all printdata such as a document and an image. The general-purpose format mayinclude a page description language such as Postscript (registeredtrademark).

The file conversion unit 136 converts the file according to the messagesaccumulated in the file conversion queue of the queuing system 140. Whenthe file conversion is completed, it registers a sending message of theprint job in a print job send queue of the queuing system 140. Althoughthe file conversion unit 136 is configured within the print portal 100in this embodiment, it may be an external function provided by anotherserver.

Although the output instruction of the print job is made and then thefile conversion is performed in this embodiment, the file may beconverted at the stage where the print job has been received and then beregistered in the job database 162. Alternatively, the file conversionsof the print jobs registered in the user database may be sequentiallyperformed independent of the receiving and output instructions of theprint job when the server has relatively less load.

A PS interface 138 has a function of sending the print job to the printstation 30. The PS interface 138 sends the print job to the designatedprint station 30 according to the message accumulated in the print jobsend queue of the queuing system 140. Such sending is performedaccording to a variety of protocols set by the print station 30 such asHTTP (Hypertext Transport Protocol).

A2. Output Process

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the output process in the embodiment. FIG. 3shows the processes that are performed by the print job source 10, theprint portal 100, the instruction client 40 and the print station 30respectively. The output in this embodiment is divided into two majorphases of a sending phase and an output phase of the print job. In FIG.3, an upper part above a broken line corresponds to the sending phase ofthe print job while a lower part below the broken line corresponds tothe output phase.

In the sending phase, the print job is sent from the print job source 10to the print portal 100 (step Sa01). At this time, the print jobincludes the designation of receiver as the executive authority personof the print job output. The receiver is identified in the form of auser ID or the like. The sender and the receiver may be identical ordifferent.

The print portal 100 registers the received print job in the jobdatabase 162 (step Sa02). In addition to this, the print portal 100informs the receiver of receiving the print job (step Sa03). In thisembodiment, this informing is performed through an e-mail. An e-mailaddress is registered in the user database 134 (shown in FIG. 2). Due toinforming through the e-mail, it is advantageous for the receiver to beable to immediately know that the printing has been received. Meanwhile,the informing of receiving (step Sa03) may be performed in a variety ofways such as a facsimile as well as the e-mail. The informing ofreceiving may be omitted.

The output phase includes the following steps. The receiver uses theinstruction client 40 to access the Web page provided by the printportal 100 (step Sa04). At this time, the receiver sends his own user IDto the print portal 100.

The print portal 100 presents to the instruction client 40 the list ofthe print jobs that are managed in associated with this user ID (stepSa05). The receiver selects the print job that he desires to print(hereinafter referred to as send job) out of the list (step Sa06), andalso designates the print destination (step Sa07). In order to designatethe print destination, the address information of the print station 30or the name of the shop or the like at which the print station 30 islocated may be used.

The print portal 100 requests the receiver to input the authenticationinformation and then inputs a voiceprint file as the authenticationinformation (step Sa08). The print portal 100 performs the personalauthentication whether or not the user is a true executive authorityperson based on this authentication information (step Sa09), and if theuser is authenticated, then sends the specified print job to the printstation (step Sa10). The user may be inquired prior to the sending aboutwhether or not to output the print job, or the print job may be sentwithout such inquiry.

In this embodiment, the authentication is not performed as a so-calledlogin procedure when the user accesses (step Sa04), but theauthentication is performed after the send job has been selected, andtherefore there is a significance that the authentication whether or notto output is performed for each send job. As illustrated in FIG. 3, itis applicable to input only the user ID and omit the authenticationinformation in accessing, or it is also applicable to login with apassword or the like in accessing and further perform the authenticationfor each send job. Although the authentication is performed for eachsend job in this embodiment, the authentication with voiceprint may beperformed in accessing to omit the authentication for each send job.Furthermore, when plural print jobs are selected as the send jobs, thesejobs may be authenticated all at once or individually.

The print station performs this print job to complete the printing.Meanwhile, when the execution of the print job is completed, the printstation may send the information of completion to the instruction client40 via the print portal 100. This enables the receiver to know thecompletion of printing even if he is away from the print station 30. Inaddition, the information of completion may be sent to the print jobsource.

FIG. 4 is a schematic that shows an example of an interface windowwhereby the output instruction is performed. There are shown contentsdisplayed on a display DISP of the instruction client 40. The display onthe left hand shows the list of the print jobs. There is shown the casewhere the four print jobs of Mail 1 to Mail 4 have been received. Thereceiver has checked the check boxes to select Mail 2 and Mail 4 as thesend jobs. Although FIG. 4 exemplifies the case where only the titles ofthe print jobs are listed, the related information on each print job maybe also presented. Such related information includes a sender, receivingtime of print job, a paper size, a number of papers, classification ofcolor and monochrome, and the like.

The display on the center is used to designate the print destination.There is illustrated the case where it is selected from names of store,hotel and the like. After “A store” is selected, branch store names orthe like of the store may be displayed to enable a step-by-step detailedselection.

The display on the right hand represents an example of a request windowfor the authentication information. In this embodiment, a voice input ofa “registered word” is requested since the voiceprint is used as theauthentication information. The registered word means a word that canreproduce the information corresponding to the voiceprint fileregistered in the user database 134. For example, it can be identical toa word that is used for the voiceprint registration to the user database134.

A3. Personal Authentication Process

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the personal authentication process. This is aprocess which a CPU of the print portal 100 performs and whichrepresents details of the processes of step Sa08 and Sa09 in thesequence of FIG. 3.

When this process is initiated, the CPU inputs the user ID (step Sa091)and then identifies the authentication information corresponding to theuser ID out of the user database 134 (step Sa092). The information thathas been input for login (step Sa04 of FIG. 3) is used as the user ID.In FIG. 5, there is exemplified the case where a “voiceprint file 001”is stored as the authentication information corresponding to the user ID“001” in the user database 134.

Next, the CPU inputs the authentication information from the instructionclient 40 (step Sa093), compares it to the authentication informationidentified in step Sa092 (step Sa094) and then outputs a result of thecomparison (step Sa095). The user is authenticated as the true outputauthority person if the both authentication information are identicalwhile he is regarded as unauthorized if they are not identical. Theresult can be output in a variety of ways. For example, it is applicableto register the print job send queue in the queuing system 140 if theuser is the true output authority person.

The print system of the first embodiment described above enables theprint job to be sent after the authentication of the executive authorityperson of the print job is performed. Therefore, it is possible to avoidthe improper execution and mistaken execution of the print job. Inparticular, it is possible to authenticate with high accuracy since thebiometric authentication is used.

B. Second Embodiment

B1. General Description of System

The first embodiment exemplifies the case where the instruction client40 for instructing the output and the print station 30 are different. Onthe contrary, the second embodiment exemplifies the case where the printstation also functions as the instruction client.

FIG. 6 is a schematic that shows a configuration of a print system inthe second embodiment. The print job source 10 and the content provider20 are not shown in FIG. 6. In the second embodiment, the print station230 performs the output instruction to the print portal 100. In responseto this instruction, the print job is sent from the print portal 100 tothe print station 230 and thereby the printing is performed.

The print station 230 is similar to that of the first embodiment in thatit consists of the general-purpose computer PC and the printer PRT. Inthe second embodiment, a fingerprint is used to authenticate the user. Asensor SFP for obtaining the fingerprint is connected to the computerPC. The print station 230 may consist of only a printer that has afunction of accessing the network.

Functional blocks provided for the print station 230 are also shown inFIG. 6. A job receiving unit 231, a print control unit 232, a completionnotification unit 233 and a printer management unit 234 are identical tothe functional blocks of the first embodiment.

In the second embodiment, the print station 230 is provided withfunctional blocks for achieving the output instruction as well as thefunctional blocks for performing the printing. Although anauthentication information sending unit 241, a job selection unit 242, aPS selection unit 243 and an output instruction unit 244 are generallysimilar to the functional blocks included in the instruction client 40of the first embodiment, their functions differ as below.

First, the PS selection unit 243 sends to the print portal 100 its ownaddress information and the like as the information of the print stationthat should be an output destination. This enables the receiver whoinstructs the output through the print station 230 to cause the printjob to be performed without selecting the output destination. Of course,the function of selecting another print station as output destinationmay be retained in a similar way to the first embodiment.

The authentication information sending unit 241 uses the sensor SFP toobtain a fingerprint pattern which is one of biometric authenticationand then sends it to the print portal 100. The fingerprint pattern canbe generated in a variety of ways. For example, a technique is knownthat generates the fingerprint specific pattern with relatively lessamount of data based on characteristic points such as end points andbranch points included in the fingerprint. Once again, in the secondembodiment, the authentication method is not limited to the fingerprintand, for example, the password may be used.

B2. Output Process

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an output process in the second embodiment. Thephase for sending the print job (steps Sa01 through Sa03) is similar tothat of the first embodiment.

The print station 230 displays a window for requesting theauthentication information and waits for an operation of the user (stepSb04). In FIG. 7, there is exemplified an example of the window PC1 forrequesting the authentication information. As shown in FIG. 7, a messagesuch as “Please touch sensor with middle finger” is displayed in thewaiting window.

The finger used for the authentication may be constant, but it ispreferably changed at a predetermined timing. For example, it is desiredthat the finger used for the authentication is randomly changed wheneverthe execution of print job is instructed. This enables an abuse offingerprint pattern to be inhibited even if the fingerprint pattern isobtained as electronic data by a third person and thus an accuracy ofauthentication to be further improved.

When the user touches the sensor according to the instruction, the printstation 230 sends a fingerprint pattern file as the authenticationinformation to the print portal 100 (step Sb05). The print portal 100performs the authentication process described below based on theauthentication information.

First, the print portal 100 refers to the user database 134 to identifythe user ID corresponding to the input fingerprint pattern (step Sb06).Next, it extracts the print job corresponding to this user ID (stepSb07). These steps extract the print jobs whose true executive authorityperson is the user who has performed the operation.

When sending the authentication information (step Sb05), the addressinformation of the print station 230 is also sent to the print portal100. The print portal 100 presents to the print station 230 a list ofthe print jobs that have been extracted in step Sb07 (step Sb08). Whenthe user selects the send job out of this list (step Sb09), the printportal 100 sends it to the print station 230 (step Sb10).

The print system of the second embodiment described above as well as thefirst embodiment enables the printing to be performed after theauthentication of the executive authority is performed. Furthermore, thesecond embodiment enables the output destination to be more simplydesignated and thus a convenience to be enhanced since the print stationitself is the output destination.

C. Third Embodiment

The first and second embodiments exemplify the case where the constantauthentication method is applied to each print job. The authenticationmethod may be switched depending on the print job. Such case isexemplified as a third embodiment. Hereinafter, although it is describedaccording to the configuration of the first embodiment, it is alsoapplicable to the configuration of the second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart that shows a personal authentication process asthe third embodiment. The process is performed instead of the process ofthe first embodiment (FIG. 5) in steps Sa08 and Sa09 during theexecution of the printing (FIG. 3).

When this process is initiated, the CPU inputs the specification of thejob (step S10) and then sets up the authentication method (step S12). InFIG. 8, there is exemplified how to set up the authentication method. Inthe third embodiment, the print jobs are classified into three levelsdepending on the need or not for the authentication method. In the orderof levels 0, 1, 2, more accurate authentication is required.

The level 0 represents the print job that does not require theauthentication. The print jobs in level 0, for example, includeadvertisements and Web pages that are available at no charge. Becausethese jobs have low confidentiality and therefore there is less adverseeffect even if they are printed improperly or mistakenly. The level 1represents the print job to which the password authentication isapplied. The print jobs in level 1 include personally created documents,e-mails and the like. Because these print jobs are confidential andtherefore require the avoidance of improper printing. The level 2represents the print job that requires the biometric authentication.Securities, a variety of certificates, usage details of credit card andthe like are included. Because these jobs require high confidentialityand reliability of delivery and therefore the advanced authenticationsuch as biometric authentication is required.

These levels, for example, may be preset by the sender in sending theprint job, or may be set by the print portal 100 after analyzing detailsof the print job. For example, if the URL of free Web page is specifiedin sending the print job, its level can be set to level 0. If the sendersends a general document file or the like as the print job, its levelcan be set to level 1. The print job from a previously registered sendersuch as an administrative institution and a credit-card company may bedetermined to have high confidentiality and thus set to level 2. In thismanner, the authentication method may be switched depending on thesender as well as details of the print job in this embodiment.

Next, according to the set-up authentication method, the CPU requeststhe authentication information to the instruction client 40 and inputsit (step S14), performs the personal authentication (step S16), andoutputs the result (step S18). In the case of level 0, these steps aresubstantially omitted. The password is required to be input in the caseof level 1 while the bio-information such as a voiceprint and afingerprint is required in the case level 2.

The authentication process of the third embodiment switches theauthentication method depending on the print job, thereby enabling aconvenience of the print system to be enhanced. For example, for printjobs of low confidentiality such as advertisements and free Web pages,the authentication can be omitted to immediately print with lessoperations. On the other hand, for print jobs that require theauthentication of high confidentiality, the improper printing ormistaken printing can be avoided.

The correspondence between the print jobs and the authentication methodsshown in FIG. 8 is only an example, and therefore can be configured inany other way. The authentication methods are not limited to theexemplified three levels but may be switched among more levels orbetween two levels of presence/absence of authentication.

Although the third embodiment is described according to theauthentication in the configuration of the first embodiment (FIG. 3) forsake of convenience of explanation, it is also applicable to theconfiguration of the second embodiment. In the output process of thesecond embodiment (FIG. 7), the user may initially select theauthentication method out of a menu since the authentication isperformed prior to specifying the send job (steps Sb04 and Sb05). Inthis case, it is required only to perform the extraction of job (stepSb07 in FIG. 7) within a range corresponding to a level selected by theuser. For example, it is required only to extract the print jobscorresponding to level 0 when the user selects level 0 while it isrequired only to extract the print jobs corresponding to level 0 andlevel 1 when the user selects level 1.

D. Fourth Embodiment

In the above embodiments, the description is based on the case where theconstant process is performed when sending the job to the print station.It may be accordingly switched whether or not the user is inquired priorto the sending about whether or not to output the print job. The processin such case is exemplified as a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a job transfer process as the fourthembodiment. It is a process performed in the job transfers of the firstand second embodiments (step Sa10 of FIG. 3 and step Sb10 of FIG. 7). Inthis process, the CPU inputs the user ID and the specification of thesend job (step S20) and then sets the need or not for the inquiry ofoutput based on this (step S22). This setting method is described later.

For the print job that is determined to require the inquiry of output(step S24), the CPU inquires about whether or not to output (step S26),and then transfers the job (step S28). For the print job that isdetermined not to require the inquiry (step S24), this inquiry isomitted. In FIG. 9, there is exemplified an interface for the inquiry.Where an issuer, a document name and the like of the print job aredisplayed and the inquiry is made about whether or not the printing maybe started. The displayed details can be selected accordingly.

FIG. 10 is a schematic that shows how to set up the need or not for theinquiry of output. In this embodiment, the need or not for the inquiryof output is set up based on an identity of the issuer and the outputauthority person of the print job.

In a case A where “the authority person and the issuer are identical,”it is preferable to set up the inquiry of output as unneeded. Thiscorresponds to the case where the user has sent the print job tohimself. In such case, the printing may be performed without the inquiryof output since the executive authority person knows the details of theprint job as a matter of course.

In a case D where “the authority person and the issuer are completelydifferent,” it is preferable to require the inquiry of output. Becausethe print job can include details unknown by the executive authorityperson. In particular, the inquiry of output is substantially requiredif a fee is charged on the executive authority person for the printing.

In a case B where “the authority person is included in the issuers,” itis possible to optionally set up the inquiry of output as either ofneeded/unneeded. The case B includes, for example, a case where oneprint job consists of a document sent by the user to himself and anaccompanying information such as an advertisement attached to thedocument. The two of the user and the advertisement provider areissuers, and the executive authority person is included therein. In thiscase, the inquiry of output may be omitted from the viewpoint similar tothat of the case A, or may be required from the viewpoint that thedetails can be included that are not known by the executive authorityperson.

Again, in a case C where “the authority persons and the issuers partlyoverlap,” it is also possible to optionally set up the inquiry of outputas either of needed/unneeded depending on the viewpoint. The case Ccorresponds to a case where the print job is sent to a plurality ofusers in the case B. The case C may be further divided depending on arelation of between the executive authority persons and the issuers.When the executive authority is included in the issuers as an executiveauthority A, it is possible to consider according to the case B. Whenthe executive authority is not included in the issuers as an executiveauthority B, it is possible to consider according to the case D.

According to the process of the forth embodiment described above,switching the inquiry of whether or not to output enables the printingto be performed with simple operations and thereby enabling aconvenience of the print system to be enhanced. Although exemplified inthe fourth embodiment is the case where the need or not for the inquiryis switched based on the identity of the issuer and the executiveauthority person of the print job, the switching may be performed basedon details of the print job. For example, the need or not for theinquiry may be switched based on the levels exemplified in step S12 ofFIG. 8. Alternatively, when the fee is charged for the printing, theneed or not may be switched based on the fee. For example, the inquiryof whether or not to output may be performed for the job for which apredetermined fee or above is charged such as the print job including acolor photo while the inquiry may be omitted when the fee is below thepredetermined fee.

The inquiry of whether or not to output may be replaced with the need ornot for the authentication. For example, when inquiring about whether ornot to output (step S26) in the process of FIG. 9, the authenticationinformation may be required to be input instead of YES/NO. This enablesthe input of authentication information and the inquiry of whether ornot to output to be performed at the same time, and thereby enabling theoperation to be simplified.

The process of FIG. 9 is applicable even if the personal authenticationis omitted in the first and second embodiments (FIG. 3 and FIG. 7).

E. Modifications

In the first embodiment, there is exemplified the print process for thecase where the list of the jobs corresponding to the user is presented,the send job is selected and then the personal authentication isperformed (FIG. 3). In the second embodiment, there is exemplified theprocess for the case where the personal authentication is performed andthen the list of the jobs corresponding to the user is presented (FIG.7). The both processes can be replaced one another, and therefore theprocess of the second embodiment (FIG. 7) may be applied to theconfiguration of the first embodiment while the process of the firstembodiment (FIG. 3) may be applied to the configuration of the secondembodiment.

Although the print job is selected in the first and second embodiments,this process may be omitted to send all the jobs corresponding to theexecutive authority person. This enables the operation to be simplified,and thereby enabling a convenience to be enhanced.

In the first and second embodiments, there is exemplified the case wherethe voiceprint or fingerprint is used for the personal authentication.Using these biometric authentications advantageously enable the personalauthentication to be performed with high accuracy. Meanwhile, thebiometric authentication may include a shape of face or palm, an iris ofeye, handwriting and the like. In these embodiments, it is optional toapply the biometric authentication, and thus the password authenticationmay be applied.

Although various embodiments of the invention have been described, itshould be noted that the invention is not limited to these embodimentsand may include various configurations without departing from the spiritof the invention. For example, the control processes described above maybe implemented by software or hardware.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

This invention can be used for outputting a print job via a network.

1. A print intermediary server provided on a network which sends a printjob received via the network to a printing apparatus connected to thenetwork, the print intermediary server comprising: a job management unitthat manages the print job associated with an output authority personwho has output authority of the print job; an instruction acquisitionunit that acquires from a sender, via at least one client connected tothe network, an output instruction of the print job and authenticationinformation for authenticating the sender of the output instruction; anda print job output unit, when the sender is authenticated to have theoutput authority based on the authentication information, sends theprint job to the printing apparatus.
 2. A print intermediary serveraccording to claim 1, wherein the at least one client is an apparatusthat differs from the printing apparatus.
 3. A print intermediary serveraccording to claim 2, wherein a plurality of printing apparatuses areconnected to the network, the instruction acquisition unit furtheracquires designation information for designating one of the printingapparatuses to which the print job should be output, and the print joboutput unit sends the print job based on the designation information. 4.The print intermediary server according to claim 1, wherein the at leastone client is configured in an integral fashion with the printingapparatus.
 5. A print intermediary server according to claim 1, whereinthe authentication is performed based on whether or not a particularinformation previously associated with the output authority person isidentical to the input authentication information.
 6. A printintermediary server according to claim 1, wherein the authentication isperformed based on whether or not a user identified based on theauthentication information is identical to the output authority person.7. A print intermediary server according to claim 1, wherein the printjob output unit switches a plurality of authentication methods inresponse to at least one of details of the print job and a issuer of theprint job.
 8. A print intermediary server according to claim 1, whereinthe print job output unit performs the authentication for each print jobto be output.
 9. A print intermediary server according to claim 1,wherein the authentication is performed by means of a biometricauthentication.
 10. A print intermediary server provided on a networkwhich sends a print job received via the network to a printing apparatusconnected to the network, the print intermediary server comprising: ajob management unit for managing the print job in associated with anoutput authority person who has output authority of the print job; aninstruction acquisition unit for acquiring from one of clients connectedto the network an output instruction of the print job and authenticationinformation for authenticating a sender of the output instruction; and aprint job output unit, when the sender is authenticated to have theoutput authority based on the authentication information, sends theprint job to the printing apparatus, wherein the print job output unitswitches authentication information to be input via the client inresponse to a timing of the output instruction.
 11. A print intermediaryserver provided on a network which sends a print job received via thenetwork to a printing apparatus connected to the network, the printintermediary server comprising: a job receiving unit that receives theprint job associated with at least one executive authority person forauthorizing an output of the print job and at least one issuer of theprint job; and an output control unit that switches an executiveprocedure and then sends the print job based on at least one of detailsof the print job and an identity of the at least one executive authorityperson and the at least one issuer, wherein said at least one executiveauthority person and said at least one issuer are different persons. 12.The print intermediary server according to claim 11, wherein the outputcontrol unit, when the at least one executive authority person and theat least one issuer at least partly overlap, can send the print jobwithout inquiring the at least one executive authority person aboutwhether or not to send the print job.
 13. A print intermediary serverprovided on a network which sends a print job received via the networkto a printing apparatus connected to the network, the print intermediaryserver comprising: a job receiving unit for receiving the print job inassociated with an executive authority person of output of the print joband an issuer of the print job; and an output control unit for switchingan executive procedure and then sending the print job in response to atleast one of details of the print job and an identity of the executiveauthority person and the issuer, wherein the output control unit, when aperson other than the executive authority person is included in theissuers, inquires the executive authority person about whether or not tosend the print job and then can send the print job based on the result.14. An intermediary method of using a print intermediary server providedon a network to send a print job received via the network to a printingapparatus connected to the network, the intermediary method comprising:(a) managing the print job associated with an output authority personwho has output authority of the print job in the print intermediaryserver; (b) acquiring, from at least one of client connected to thenetwork, an output instruction of the print job and authenticationinformation for authenticating a sender of the output instruction; and(c) sending the print job to the printing apparatus when the sender isauthenticated to have the output authority based on the authenticationinformation.
 15. An intermediary method of using a print intermediaryserver provided on a network to send a print job received via thenetwork to a printing apparatus connected to the network, theintermediary method comprising: (a) receiving the print job associatedwith an executive authority person authorizing output of the print joband an issuer of the print job; and (b) switching an executive procedureand then sending the print job based on whether or not the executiveauthority person is identical to the issuer.
 16. A computer readablerecording medium storing a computer program for performing a method ofusing a print intermediary server provided on a network to send a printjob received, from a device connected to the network to a printingapparatus connected to the network, the method comprising: managing theprint job associated with an output authority person who has outputauthority of the print job in the print intermediary server; acquiringfrom a sender, via at least one client connected to the network, anoutput instruction of the print job and authentication information forauthenticating a sender of the output instruction; and sending the printjob to the printing apparatus based on the output instruction when thesender is authenticated to have the output authority based on theauthentication information.
 17. A computer readable recording mediumstoring a computer program for performing a method of using a printintermediary server provided on a network to send a print job receivedvia the network to a printing apparatus connected to the network, themethod comprising: receiving the print job in associated with anexecutive authority person of output of the print job and an issuer ofthe print job; and switching an executive procedure and then sending theprint job based on whether or not the executive authority person isidentical to the issuer.
 18. The print intermediary server according toclaim 1, wherein the print intermediary server receives the print jobfrom a device connected to the network, and wherein said at least oneclient is different from the device.
 19. The print intermediary serveraccording to claim 1, wherein said at least one device comprises atleast a wireless communication device.
 20. A print intermediary serverprovided on a network which sends a print job received via the networkto a printing apparatus connected to the network, the print intermediaryserver comprising: a job management unit for managing the print jobassociated with an output authority person who has output authority ofthe print job; an instruction acquisition unit for acquiring from asender, via at least one client connected to the network, an outputinstruction of the print job and authentication information forauthenticating the sender of the output instruction; and a print joboutput unit, when the sender is authenticated to have the outputauthority based on the authentication information, sends the print jobto the printing apparatus.
 21. A print intermediary server provided on anetwork which sends a print job received via the network to a printingapparatus connected to the network, the print intermediary servercomprising: a job receiving unit for receiving the print job associatedwith at least one executive authority person for authorizing output ofthe print job and at least one issuer of the print job; and an outputcontrol unit for switching an executive procedure and then sending theprint job based on at least one of details of the print job and anidentity of the at least one executive authority person and the at leastone issuer, wherein said executive authority person and said at leastone issuer are different persons.
 22. A print intermediary serverprovided on a network which sends a print job received via the networkto a printing apparatus connected to the network, the print intermediaryserver comprising: a memory; a control circuit, said control circuitmanaging the print job associated with an output authority person whohas output authority of the print job and acquiring from a sender, viaat least one client connected to the network, an output instruction ofthe print job and authentication information for authenticating thesender of the output instruction, and when the sender is authenticatedas having the output authority based on the authentication information,the print job is sent to the printing apparatus.
 23. A printintermediary server provided on a network which sends a print jobreceived via the network to a printing apparatus connected to thenetwork, the print intermediary server comprising: a memory; a controlcircuit, said control circuit switching an executive procedure and thensending a print job associated with at least one executive authorityperson for authorizing an output of the print job and at least oneissuer of the print job, based on at least one of details of the printjob and an identity of the at least one executive authority person andthe at least one issuer, wherein said at least one executive authorityperson and said at least one issuer are different persons.